The Right Decision
by SiriusUntiltheVeryEnd
Summary: Ted and Andy have hired a babysitter, they just have to actually leave the house. In the process, they both remember how they got together in the first place.


"Andy," Ted said walking into Nymphadora's room. "Stop feeling guilty."

She frowned giving him a dirty look as she straightened up her five year old daughters room. "I don't feel guilty. I'm perfectly allowed to have a night out with my husband. And it makes perfect sense that I leave my daughter in the hands of my cousin."

"Ah huh," He grinned, leaning against the doorframe. He pushed up his glasses, his brown hair falling into his face. "Is that way you've made her bed three times today?"

She sighed in aggravation, throwing her daughter's blanket onto the bed. "I just…I just feel like if we leave something bad is going to happen." Her large brown eyes fixed on his blue ones in apprehension. "I just…I haven't left her since the day she was born…and…oh-what-if-"

Ted crossed the room in three simple steps. His hands went to her shoulders as he peered down at her sympathetically. "I know why you are worried, but we can't just stay here forever. We haven't been alone in a long time. We need to go out. We have a suitable sitter."

"Okay." She nodded, letting out the large breath that had been building in her chest.

"Now," He smirked, circling around her, and brushing his nose against hers, "Why don't you get into that dress you bought?"

Her eyes flashed from surprise to anger. "How do you know-"

"When will you learn love?" He pecked her lips quickly before walking away. "I know everything."

She tried to fight a chuckle, but it came out anyway. She'd never been much good at resisting Ted.

* * *

_"Eh Black," Ted called running across the corridor, his tall stature towered over Andromeda despite the fact that he had to walk briskly to keep up with her._

_"Yes Tonks?" She asked, with a sigh._

_He grinned at her irritation. "I was wondering if you wanted me to tutor you in charms."_

_She stopped walking so abruptly that if he hadn't been watching he would have ran her over. Luckily his eyes never left her. "Wait…What?"_

_"I noticed you were having trouble in Charms. So I was wondering-" He began to repeat, before she pushed him off into a side corridor._

_Her face was stern as she craned her neck to look at him. "What are you doing?"_

_"I believe I have said that."_

_She shook her head. "No, what are you doing talking to me? You know what the Slytherin's will do if they see you."_

_"Maybe I fancy you." He admitted, taking a step forward._

_She gasped her eyes searching him for a sign of sanity, she saw none. "What is wrong with you?!" She growled from behind her clenched teeth, adjusting her green and silver tie. "You know who I am. And they know who you are. You are a muggleborn and-"_

_"Yes," He cut her off, "They do, but I know something they don't."_

_"What's that?"_

_"You fancy me too." He retorted calmly._

_She blinked and took a step back. "I've never said that!"_

_"Then why do I always catch you looking at me in class? And when your sister wanted her boyfriend to jump me, why did you distract them?"_

_Andy shook her head and tried to walk away. "I don't know what you are talking about-"_

_He caught her arm, "Amelia Bones told me. She overheard what happened."_

_Andy's chest was rising and falling much faster than it should have been. She had plans. She was going to fade into the background at Hogwarts and wait till she graduated to break away from her family's ridiculous prejudices. Her long black hair was tied back in a high ponytail, and her uniform was perfectly fitted. She blended into the pureblood fold easily, but her eyes betrayed her. They showed just how much she did truly care Ted. She thought he was smart, handsome and hysterical. In class he would always get this retort with the professors and make jokes but she never allowed herself to openly laugh. Only one did she slip and he caught her and never let her forget it._

_"Ted." She frowned, her large eyes staring up in him in fear. "Don't do this. You'll get into trouble. I'm not worth the trouble. There are plenty of girls-"_

_"I don't want any other girls."_

_She wanted to scoff and she would have. It was something she heard millions of other boys say to millions of daft girls. But she made the mistake of looking at him when he said it and she couldn't unsee the sincerity in his eyes, or unheard the earnestness in his tone._

* * *

"MUUUUUM!"

She blinked and ran a hand through her short hair before heading into the living room to find Sirius Black chasing her daughter around the sofa. A wild laugh was on his lips as he caught her and immediately began tickling her onto the floor. Nymphadora's shape changed dramatically as Sirius mercilessly ticked his much younger cousin.

"Let her up Sirius." Andy chuckled.

Sirius sighed and did as he was told. She was and remained to be the only blood relative that Sirius would ever take orders from. Her daughter flew into her arms and hugged her mother tightly, her grip strong and unwavering. Nymphadora shifted back into her natural state, her eyes exactly like Andy's, but her smile was all Ted.

"Give me her," Sirius demanded, "You have to go get ready."

"I know! I know!" Andy smiled as Sirius went back to chasing Nymphadora around the living room. Finally Sirius had found someone to play with that was mentally the same age as he.

A few minutes later, Ted Tonks caught his daughter around her stomach as she flew past him and threw her up into his arms, a wide smile on his face. Sirius stayed down on the ground, he was panting from lack of oxygen. Nymphadora was breathing heavily, her face was red from running.

Ted swiped her hair off her face and said, "I think you wore him out."

"He said…" She paused to breath, "I couldn't... outrun him."

"Well you sure showed him didn't you sweetheart?"

She grinned and nodded happily. "Yes daddy!"

"Okay well as soon as your mum is done getting changed we are going to go." He leveled his daughter with a look. "Now I want you to promise that you will be good alright?"

She nodded and snuggled into her father's chest. "I'll try."

"You'll try?" He laughed shaking his head at her. "Whatever happened to, 'yes dad?"

She giggled into his shoulder.

Ted laughed again and put her down. "Alright, take it easy on Sirius. He isn't as young as he used to be."

"Oy! I may be out of shape but I can still hear you! Seventeen is hardly old!"

"Not the way you play it mate." Ted shot back with a short laugh while he fixed his dress shirt.

Sirius scoffed and muttered something under his breath as Nymphadora began climbing on top of his back.

Ted turned and leaned his back against the wall; his warm blue eyes scanned the room before stopping at a picture of him and Andy. It was taken just a week before she agreed to marry him.

* * *

_"Smile," Amelia Bones ordered them._

_Andy rolled her eyes, but just looked at the camera. Ted wrapped his arms around her waist and held her back to his chest._

_"Thank you!" Amelia flashed them a smile, before running off to take pictures of other people sitting around the grounds._

_Ted slipped his hand into Andy's and interlocked their fingers. She used to flinch when he did this, but their relationship becoming public a month earlier she had begun to be comfortable with him. At first he was offended and wondered what it was about him that repulsed her so much. It occurred to him that maybe her protests to seeing him might have more to do with his blood status than his safety, but then he saw what happened when Andy was disowned. They tore her entire life apart; stripping her friends, family, social status and anything she had before then. Then all the Slytherin's took turns torturing her; throwing her out of the dorms, hexing books to beat her and saying loudly for all to hear what a worthless human being she was. It took everything in him not to pumble every person that hurt her. For the past month she had switched between sleeping in the room of requirement and occasionally bunking with him._

_It had been hell for her, but he never saw her cry about it. She said it was inevitable, it just happened earlier than she planned. He didn't understand. They'd been together for eight months, and they were completely in love with each other, he understood that. The part he couldn't understand was how she could be so strong and completely okay with never speaking to either of her sisters ever again._

_"You don't have to hide it you know." He mentioned worriedly, dropping down behind their maple tree that stride both on the land and the lake._

_She turned and gave him an odd look. "Hide what?"_

_"If you miss your sisters, your family…your life. You can talk to me about it you know." He told her._

_Andy smiled at him, though the pain in her eyes grew. "There's nothing really to talk about. I appreciate it, but we were always destined to go in different directions. They just didn't understand that."_

_"Couldn't you still keep in touch with your younger sister at least? I know you were close."_

_"No." She shook her head without a second of doubt. "I love my little sister, and though I was being disowned I offered to still keep in touch with her, but she gave me a limitation I couldn't live with."_

_He frowned. "What did she say?"_

_Andy's eyes filled with tears, though her face was perfectly calm. "She said that she would still owl me if I stopped seeing you."_

_A huge amount of guilt shifted into his chest, and he was about to say something when she spoke._

_"I told her I couldn't do that and I wouldn't." Her eyes locked on him. "And I made the right decision."_

_He gasped as cupped his face and pressed her lips against his intently. Breaking away, she kept her face close to his so he could see every tiny freckle on her face. "I love you Ted and nothing they can do will make me ever regret that."_

* * *

"Sweetheart?" Andy asked her light voice stirring him out of his thoughts.

He blinked and turned to find her a elegant red dress that accented her tiny little figure perfectly while leaving his imagination with something to work with. A smile grew on his face, before he walked over scooped her up into his arms and kissed her.

Still in his arms, she giggled and pulled away. "Are you ready?"

"Now I am." He placed her on the floor and offered her his arm.

His brown hair fell into his face as Andy gave Sirius a look. "We'll be back in three hours tops."

"Take your time." Sirius winked.

"We will," Ted shot back, whisking Andy out the door before she could add anything else.


End file.
